I am an Asian American, it sucks!

I am an Asian American. To be precise: I am an Asian, born in America.

Compared to others, Asian Americans belong in the highest income bracket of all citizens – $70,000 in median annual household income, almost twice as much as the national average. As an ethnic group, we are the lowest ranked in accessing social welfare – we create our own jobs and make our own future better. Many agree the Asians are the best neighbors to have: We are quiet, we read our books, we are super polite, we don’t fight back, we love our families and we enjoy our chopsticks. I graduated from an Ivy League university and I married a Yale graduate. Life is set, right? Not really.

I love America and I admire its diversity. But I hate the ignorance towards us.

Growing up, I have been called many names: a “Chink,” a “Jap,” a “Pokemon,” a “Filipino,” “Bruce Lee” or even “SamSung…”

I just want to be called an “Asian American” – like “African American” for the black folks. Chinese Americans represent 1% of the entire U.S. population. Why is it so hard for our fellow citizens to understand us?

“Despite my love of our country and my deep respect towards my government, I am disgusted with the increasing stereotypes accusing every Chinese American scientist a ‘China spy.'”

It’s xenophobic, racist and ignorant. Since the Obama Administration announced “getting tough” with the Chinese government for their stealing of America’s secrets, Asian Americans have paid a hefty price. Chinese Americans in particular are caught mistakenly in the U.S.’s cybercrime dragnet.

Since 2014, the Justice Department has brought almost two dozen Chinese espionage cases involving Chinese Americans. The government’s track record in winning them is dismal:

“70% of those ‘Chinese espionage’ cases were either voluntarily dismissed within days before trial or crumbled during trial for lack of evidence.”

Understandably, there is colossal collateral damage for the wrongfully accused. Has the government done anything for those citizens to cleanse their names? None. Absolutely nothing. Despite their complete vindication, false charges against them were never removed from the DOJ’s website. It seems like the government just doesn’t give a damn about justice for its citizens.

When the government gets it wrong, it hides behind immunity and the victims have no recourse against the false accusers. You really can’t sue the government to get your legal fees back either. Just the opposite: Ironically, as American citizens, we are expected to show gratitude towards the government for dropping its ill-advised cases simply because, as the DOJ likes to say: “We dropped this case in the interest of justice.” Does it sound fair? Not really. In the name of “enforcing the law,” DOJ prosecutors are not held accountable even when they are so wrong. Just a few horrific examples:

Xiafen “Sherry” Chen, a Chinese American hydrologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was arrested at her office. The U.S. government accused her of illegally accessing data at the behest of Chinese officials. Less than a week before going to trial, the government dropped all charges. You would think the Government has apologized to Ms. Chen and given her job back? Wrong. The poor Chinese American scientist, despite having been cleared of all DOJ’s false charges, was fired from her job for being a “high risk Chinese target,” reported by The New York Times. The 65-year-old American-educated PhD scientist lost her only source of income for having done no wrong to anyone. Her reputation was forever ruined. No one would hire her. Any google search would still prominently reveal the DOJ’s indictment against her as well as those egregious allegations – without mentioning a single word that her case had been dropped! The false charges were never removed from the government’s website. DOJ has the answer: “Sherry Chen should feel lucky that her case was dismissed.” But what about her life, reputation and how she will be able to live without any income? The Government didn’t care.

I thought we live in America… the land of the free and justice for all. It was a rude wake up call.

A $79 “top secret heat meter” from Home Depot

“Despite complete vindication, Sherry Chen was fired by the Commerce Department based on these same discredited charges.”

How about another outrageous case involving an Asian American? Xiaoxing Xi, Chinese American chairman of the physics department at Temple University, was arrested at his home in front of his wife and children by a dozen armed FBI agents. The government accused him of helping the Chinese by providing them with proprietary materials owned by a U.S. company. All charges were voluntarily dismissed after a PowerPoint presentation that included affidavits from prominent American physicists who made clear that no crime was committed. It turned out the FBI agents and the Philly-based federal prosecutors had no training whatsoever in science. The government believed Professor Xi’s heat meat drawing that he had sent to a friend in China was stealing “top American secret” – when in fact, the same product sells for $79 at Home Depot! Sick in the stomach yet?

“Before the indictment of Prfessor Xiaoxing Xi, no one at the FBI or DOJ had bothered to check with a single scientist if the ‘stolen science’ was indeed a “top American secret.”

The draconian consequence is too familiar: Professor Xi was ruined. What about the prosecutor involved in the case? He left the government, joined a large law firm and is making millions as a defense lawyer. Fair? Not really. That’s the reality facing Asian Americans every day.

A “top secret” American drug? Tylenol!

Two Chinese American scientists in Cincinnati working for Eli Lilly were arrested for selling “proprietary drug formula” to the Chinese. The media jumped on them and the government prosecutors called them “traitors!” Days before trial, their case was abruptly dropped by the DOJ. The government conceded the “propriety drug formula” was no more secretive than the stuff that goes into making “Tylenol” – the OTC drug known to the world since 1879! The government was wrong again. Fair?

Hardly a week goes by without a headline about Chinese hackers assaulting this nation’s computer systems. The targets, according to news reports, include government agencies as well as private industry. The source of these attacks, we are told, is the Chinese government. And the accused criminals? Asian Americans, 100% of the time.

Japanese too? The U.S. government’s knowledge on China is summarized in one word: Ignorance

In addition to computer hacking, China has been accused of engaging in a campaign of economic espionage. In a relentless political campaign against the Chinese, Japanese Americans were treated no differently, even for an American lawyer born to a California family of a Japanese American war hero.

In September 2015, prominent Japanese American lawyer William Uchimoto was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “assisting and abetting a massive China fraud” and “cheated the Nasdaq Stock Market in violation of its 300 round lot shareholder listing rule.” SEC staffers Derek Bentsen, Steven Susswein and Cheryl Crumpton – poorly educated “SEC dumbbells” that only work four days a week prosecuted Uchimoto like wild ducks in a row. The SEC accusation was bizarre as hell! This is the SEC’s logic in prosecuting lawyer Bill Uchimoto:

“A top American lawyer who makes over $1 million a year, gave all that up in order to ‘abet a China fraud’ so he could make $30.”

Does it make any sense to anyone? Facts didn’t matter. Within days before trial in the New York federal court in front of the highly intelligent judge P. Kevin Castel, the SEC imbeciles Derek Bentsen, Steve Susswein and Cheryl Crumpton “mysteriously” dropped a major fraud charge against Uchimoto – with no explanation or an apology.

The truth was finally revealed in a court filing made by the DOJ in New York’s Southern District:

On July 8, 2016, prosecutors in New York’s Southern District finally conceded before the highly regarded federal judge Alison Nathan: “The government does not claim that NASDAQ or any other entity had in place a formal rule banning the gifting of shares in connection with a listing application.”

That’s interesting. Can a rule violation occur when the rule doesn’t exist? What the heck is an “informal rule?”

“In other words, the Nasdaq, FINRA, DOJ and the SEC deliberately colluded to trap William Uchimoto by fabricating a nonexistent Nasdaq listing rule, made up the evidence against an Asian American.”

SEC: Market manipulation or complete ignorance?

When the government bureaucrats were caught pants down defrauding a federal judge, the SEC fraudsters quickly dropped the case. There was no accountability, no transparency. William Uchimoto’s reputation was ruined.

The imbecile SEC staff further alleged that Uchimoto “… his co-defendants would convince the client companies to enter into “lock up” agreements that prevented the management from trading their shares for a period of time…This control allowed easily manipulate the market for those securities and profit from the scheme.”

Well, under Chinese law, shares owned by founders/management are automatically “locked up,” prohibited from trading for at least 3 years from the date when their companies get listed on a stock exchange. The rule applies to China-based companies listed anywhere in the world since many of them have Chinese shareholders. The voluntary “lock up” of Chinese founder shares for 3 years is literally the Chinese legal requirement – the black letter Chinese law! Somehow this normal business became “illegal activity” when China-based companies are involved. Pure racism? Yes, that’s also called an “ignorant sack of dumb shit,” exposed by our journalist friend Ronny Chieng in The Daily Show.

A quick reading of The Wall Street Journal teaches Derek Bentsen and his fellow SEC retards the same basic knowledge: In a December 2015 WSJ article titled “Chinese Companies Are Trapped in IPO Logjam,” the Wall Street Journal pointed out the same Chinese law: “… the Chinese company’s ‘control investor,’ usually its founders, can’t sell shares for three years…”

Unfair treatment

As a citizen and an Asian American, I always believe the justice system is fair and our government employees are smart and they have conscience. As more Asian Americans are entrapped again and again, that trust and belief in the fairness of our government appear to be remote. We always proudly hold the American flag tall and high. But the government’s threat against us, the Asian American community is very real.

Politicians can brand themselves by declaring America is the country of “united colors.” But when the poorly informed FBI agents ram down our doors with guns, the SEC bureaucrats ruin us and when our government distrusts us – the peaceful, well-educated Asian ethnic group, we are disheartened. Many of us are torn between our Asian heritage and our love of our country.

The recent Justice Department’s wrongful prosecutions of Sherry Chen and Xiaoxing Xi suggest that, in their zeal, prosecutors have proceeded as if wearing blinders, ignoring evidence that contradicts their theories of guilt and plowing ahead with prosecutions that should never have been brought.

As a result, innocent U.S. citizens have been victimized by our own government. They have been held up to public opprobrium, had their employment and livelihoods threatened and been forced to pay for legal defenses that could easily bankrupt anyone of modest means. The harm caused by the government’s aggressive overreach can hardly be overstated.

“Red Scare” is a real American prejudice against our Asian American citizens. It was characterized by the loss of civil rights and, at times, the indiscriminate targeting of many loyal, innocent Americans who were suspected of being communists or communist sympathizers. Once targeted by the government, these citizens were harassed and often lost their jobs, thrown in prison. The overreaction to this potential threat led to many thousands of innocent U.S. citizens being unfairly and wrongly targeted.

Who’s helping us? No one

It appears that we are now in danger of repeating our mistakes. Instead of communism, the fear is centered on Chinese hacking and espionage, and the threats are economic rather than ideological . But the threat to our fellow citizens is the same: It is far easier to make an allegation than to disprove one. And once an allegation has been made public, it is nearly impossible to remove the stain on a person’s reputation.

Although the cases against Sherry Chen, Professor Xiaoxing Xi have been dismissed, their ordeals have left permanent scars. Professor Xiaoxing Xi lost his chairmanship at Temple University. His reputation has been forever tarnished, and he fears that some will always look at him with suspicion.

Japanese American lawyer William Uchimoto was dragged through the mud by the SEC’s imbecile enforcement lawyers who are still trying to retake his “Asian scalp.”

Sherry Chen and Professor Xiaoxing Xi have had to borrow heavily to pay their legal fees. And the trauma that each experienced when unexpectedly surrounded by the armed federal agents who then led them away in handcuffs is something that will not fade away.

What’s the right answer?

What should be done? Much, if not all, of the harm in these cases could have been mitigated had the government done what it typically does in white-collar cases — provide suspects with a “target letter”notifying them that it intends to charge them with a crime and requesting that they have an attorney contact prosecutors. This would have provided Chen and Xi and Uchimoto the opportunity to present their defense, through counsel, before charges were brought publicly. Instead, the government rushed ahead, seeking headlines and an opportunity to make examples out of them both.

I am an Asian American. I don’t have the right answers for the world’s troubles.

“There is one thing I know for sure: If the government continues to hunt Asian scalps, the most significant harm to the U.S. society may end up being self-inflicted.”

How can our government overcome racial prejudice? How can our government agents be better trained and not rush to judgment? Does anyone care? Despite our love for America, do Asian Americans truly belong here? I don’t have an answer…

This is indeed unfair treatment of the Asians. African Americans have far more serious problems than the Asians. They get killed in the streets just walking around. There are systemic problems in the society.